Physicians for a National Health Program Minnesota is an education and advocacy organization of over 8,000 health professionals and patients who support universal health care through single payer reform.

Evidence

Evidence

SINGLE PAYER: TALKING POINTS AND EVIDENCE

48 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2012(1), and after full implementation of the Affordable Care Act an estimated 31 million Americans will remain uninsured in 2023(2).

The U.S. ranks worst of 19 high-income countries in preventing deaths amenable to medical care (45,000 deaths/year) before age 75(3)

Underinsurance is growing with 46% of 19-64 year olds either uninsured or underinsured. In 2012 as many patients are forced into insurance plans with high-deductibles (> $1,000) and narrow and ultra-narrow networks of providers(4,5).

The United States spends twice as much per capita on health care as the average of wealthy nations that provide universal coverage(6).

Medical bills contribute to 62% of all personal bankruptcies(7) and medical bankruptcy did not fall in Massachusetts after that state’s implementation of reform in 2006(8). 75% of people bankrupted by medical bills had private insurance at the onset of illness or injury,

Private insurance companies consume, on average, 13% of premiums in overhead compared to fee-for-service Medicare’s overhead of under 2%(9).

Providers are forced to spend tens of billions more dealing with insurers’ billing and documentation requirements(10), bringing total administrative costs to 31% of U.S. health spending, compared to 16.7% in Canada(11).

The U.S. could save over $380 billion and Minnesota 4 billion annually on costs with a single-payer system(12,13).

The savings from slashing bureaucracy would be enough to cover all of the uninsured and eliminate cost sharing for everyone else(14).

A single-payer system could control costs through proven-effective mechanisms such as global budgets for hospitals and negotiated drug prices(15), thereby making health care financing sustainable, and

A single-payer reform would reduce malpractice lawsuits and insurance costs because injured patients would not have to sue for coverage of future medical expenses.

A single-payer system would facilitate health planning, directing capital funds to build and expand health facilities where they are needed, rather than being driven by the dictates of the market.

A single-payer reform would dramatically reduce, although not eliminate, health disparities. The passage of Medicare in 1965 led to the rapid desegregation of 99.6% of U.S. hospitals(16).

A single-payer system would allow patients to freely choose their doctors, give physicians a choice of practice setting, and protect the doctor-patient relationship.

There is single-payer legislation in both houses of Congress, H.R. 676 and S. 1782, and Vermont passed legislation in 2011 to create a “pathway to single payer” in that state starting in 2017, the soonest allowed under federal law. Minnesota is considering similar legislation, the Minnesota Health Plan (MHP).

Doesn’t it make sense to express our support for universal access to comprehensive, affordable, high-quality health care through single-payer health insurance, both at a state and national level?